74 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



next twenty-five or fifty years ? Yast tracts of territory that 

 only a few years ago had never been visited by the Anglo-Saxon, 

 to-day teem with bountiful harvests, rich rewards to the busy 

 laborers on the great harvest-fields of the land. There are 

 other fields far and near which, if planted with fruit trees and 

 fruit-bearing vines and plants, will gladden the eye and the 

 heart of the owner, and reaching in its results beyond the 

 smiling plains or pleasant valleys, will cause even the heart of 

 the little dirty, neglected child of the city to leap for joy as he 

 beholds the rich and tempting fruits spread out before his eyes 

 and sold so cheaply that the possessor of a penny even may be 

 happy for a moment as he enjoys the rich, melting pear or 

 luscious peach or more substantial apple. Think, my friends, 

 of the old homestead farm, away it may be among the pleasant 

 hills, that dear old place with its ten thousand pleasant mem- 

 ories, where grew in our childhood the very best apples and 

 peaches and grapes that could possibly be found, as we thought 

 then. Do we not remember how much we enjoyed even the 

 fruits of those days, poor though they were ? With no bed 

 laden with President Wilder strawberries, or trees bending with 

 Dana's Hovey pears ! If, then, these things afforded so much 

 satisfaction to us, shall we not, from the many hundred varieties 

 of fruit on every hand, plant such as shall be a source of joy to 

 those who now live and those who shall come after us ? Shall 

 we not make our homes attractive and pleasant, that when our 

 children go out on to the great battle-field of life, they too may 

 think of the old homestead with all its pleasant things, among 

 the least of which will not be the orchard and garden ? 



Then cultivate fruit. Plant for yourselves ; plant for your chil- 

 dren ; plant for your neighbors away off in the distant cities ; 

 plant for the stranger that may come among you ; plant for all, 

 and let all enjoy earth's richest fruits without stint or measure. 



The Chairman. President Clark, with his usual courtesy, 

 has asked me to offer a few remarks from the chair on this 

 subject ; but after the very able, sensible, useful and compre- 

 hensive address by the orator of the evening, there is very little 

 left for me to say. I can, however, from practical knowledge, 

 endorse almost, or quite everything, which he has said. His 

 selection of fruits is admirable. They are fruits which are 



